El modelo de gestión del conocimiento

meant interfering in the coherent whole of norms and standards that support a hierarchical kinship organisation. This realisation demanded that I cau- tiously match the pace and the possibilities for social change that the trainees desired and could afford, and the choices they wanted to make in the process. I had the skills and routine to intervene in groups. But in an environment where I was a stranger, and the trainees were at home, this group work definitely felt different from what I was used to. A few trainees presented themselves as spokesmen (and sometimes as guides) who were ‘masters’ at speaking at length. These usually were higher-educated trainees who held the better social positions and enjoyed prestige. This complicated things for me because it was not to be expected (certainly not in the first days) that my feedback would receive approval or that the ‘silent’ trainees would correct the ‘spokesman’ or call him to order. It was a challenge to myself to at the same time show respect and provide change-oriented feedback. I discovered that the afternoon assemblies were the best moments: there, my feedback was least associated with the perception of criticism.

Bringing the day to a close together seemed a ‘socially normal’ thing to do and this allowed the trainees to ask themselves, as part of the training, what its added value was. The significance of jointly bringing the day to a close – and this is not to be underestimated – is that every trainee is a witness to answers that today are reassuring but tomorrow will require extra attention. And thus it happened that, now that the ‘normal’ predictable structure was organised, commitment increased and, with it, the importance that was at- tached to what was discussed during the afternoon assembly.

3.5 The coordinating staff and the staff meetings

The training programmes for Byumba and Nyamata each started with a gen- eral coordinator and a financial secretary. In Nya-Ngezi, there were four staff at the start of the training. They were responsible for, respectively, general coordination and logistics, and financial, legal and monitoring activities. In Kakata, NGO ZOA carried out the task of creating the requisite conditions for the training. All eight staff members took part in the first sixteen days of training so they could experience the new methodology for themselves and discover how and why sociotherapy is effective and how it is best organised and facilitated.

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Staff meetings dealt with housekeeping and logistics issues, addressed mat- ters of content as well as the central question whether the training evolved as the staff had hoped it would.

I received both delighted and negative signs from staff members ranging from ‘a training in the home environment will distract trainees’ to ‘I am not confident that the trainees will have the discipline to keep to the starting times’ (there were three starting times per day: at the start of the day, after the morning break and after lunch) and ‘a training location far from home may well increase concentration’. Grown accustomed, in other projects, to train- ees expressing a wish to receive training, yet staying away from the training fairly soon, staff members thought that the trainees could not be trusted off- hand. One staff member told the trainees at the start of the first day of train- ing that if they were absent for a certain number of days they would not be eligible for a certificate.

However, as the training programmes took place in the home environment, the trainees had no problem keeping to the starting times. As a rule, they ar- rived well in time. One or two people sometimes were a bit late. The latecom- ers (occasionally head-teachers who had to get their teams started) always had a valid excuse. Where staff members were concerned about their train- ees’ dependability I showed understanding for the performance pressure that had been placed on their shoulders and I pointed to the trainees’ striking re- spect for starting times, which in my view indicated focus and commitment. It became noticeable in the first staff meetings how both the staff members’ surprise and their confidence had increased. They found the group to be committed and the training method to be analytical, methodical and didac- tic. The games, they said, had a surprising effect.

As it was important for me to know what the staff thought about the training, I asked the staff members to rate the training with a mark between 1-10. The ratings included their appreciation of the training in general, the trainer, the trainees’ passive understanding, their active commitment, the staff members’ own logistical organisation and their own commitment. The staff members reported they were most content with what they had seen.

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